PRIME Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar yesterday expressed gratitude to the United States Navy for its humanitarian medical mission in Trinidad and Tobago, acknowledging that the country’s health sector continues to face significant challenges.

Hundreds of citizens braved the rain and queued outside the National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA), where they were screened and then taken to the US Navy’s Mercy-class hospital ship, USNS Comfort (T-AH 20), docked at the Cruise Ship Complex in Port of Spain, for various medical treatments, including surgeries.

Persad-Bissessar visited both NAPA and the Cruise Ship Complex to observe the operation firsthand.